Interiors: Den at “Slabsides,” John Burroughs’s rustic cabin, West Park, New York.
John Burroughs, naturalist and writer, built this house in 1895 from all local materials.
Latest
The lost cataclysm: The Cascadia earthquake and tsunami of 1700.
Historic Painting: “Self-Portrait with Vanitas Symbols” by David Bailly, 1651.
Thin flat plastic slabs of my childhood: Remembering CED videodiscs.
Fire off Long Island: The S.S. Lexington disaster.
A bunny, boiled: “Fatal Attraction” and my strange history with it.
A timely warning: The prophetic words of Rutherford B. Hayes.
The Verge
The lost cataclysm: The Cascadia earthquake and tsunami of 1700.
An earthquake off the coast of Oregon rocked the land, caused tsunamis in Japan and then seemingly vanished from history.
Historic Painting: “Self-Portrait with Vanitas Symbols” by David Bailly, 1651.
Thin flat plastic slabs of my childhood: Remembering CED videodiscs.
A bunny, boiled: “Fatal Attraction” and my strange history with it.
Historic Photo: Paris in winter, near Saint-Augustin Church, 1952.
The Poseidon phenomenon: Thoughts on a New Year’s Eve disaster that never was.
Behind the Scenes: The Cult of Technology, From Railroads to AI.
The Outer Garden
Interiors: Den at “Slabsides,” John Burroughs’s rustic cabin, West Park, New York.
John Burroughs, naturalist and writer, built this house in 1895 from all local materials.
Fire off Long Island: The S.S. Lexington disaster.
A timely warning: The prophetic words of Rutherford B. Hayes.
Year’s end: The best of the Garden in 2025.
Have a wonderful Christmas!
The Truce of 1914: A thought of hope for Christmas.
Expulsion from paradise: The civilian evacuees from Hawaii after Pearl Harbor.
The Inner Garden
It’s Not Love, Actually: Watch me do an about-face on the world’s worst Christmas movie.
A dozen years ago, I passionately defended this film. In 2025, I'm ashamed of myself.
Behind the Scenes: China’s Long Revolution, 1900-1950.
Behind the Scenes: Brazil in the World Wars.
Searching for a story: A look at my chaotic writing process.
Behind the Scenes: The American Revolution, In Its Own Words.
The book(s) I’m working on: “Faraway Star” and “Wild Among the Moons.”
